Fwd: TGOC25 Day 8 - to Aberfeldy

Thurs 15 May

Distance and ascent: 28.5km, 500m

Weather: glorious. Just a bit of high level wispy cloud first thing.

I woke up at just gone 4am and whilst I wasn't exactly cold, I also wasn't comfortably warm. I put my fleece on and lay my down jacket over my legs, but didn't really get comfy again. At 0530 I thought I may as well get up, whereupon I found the tent was covered in frost both outside and in.

With a 760m hill to the W of me and an 888m one to the E I'd lost the sun 2 hrs before sunset and it clearly wasn't going to reach my pitch again until longer after sunrise. Perhaps I should have made the effort to continue another 20 mins last night.

I walked out of the shade after 10 mins, causing me to realise that my sunglasses were missing. By missing I mean 'not on my head'. I knew exactly where they were so all I had to do was get the tent back out and retriever them from inside. Whilst I had it out I left it in the sun for a few minutes to lose half an ounce of the moisture it was holding. I was too impatient to allow it to fully dry out.

5km on good track (see photo) saw me down onto the Rob Roy Way, which follows the road on the S side of Loch Tay for quite some kilometres, although I'd avoided 5k-worth of tarmac by virtue of yesterday afternoon's route choice.

I'd not been on the road very long when I saw some walkers well ahead of me. I gradually caught up and it was exactly who I suspected -a group of four who had left Portavadie the day after me. I chatted for a while before continuing on ahead.

Stopping at an Honesty Tea Shop just up the turn to Falls of Acharn, where I enjoyed a cup of tea and some double ginger biscuits, as well as picking up a bottle of chilled coke for the road, I expected the group to catch me back up, but there was no sign of them.

Now toiling uphill, I took the detours through Hermits Cave and to the viewing platform (the latter not so much a detour as I was able to cross the water and rejoin the track further up), and the falls were worth seeing, even in the current dry conditions. Near to the falls is, incidentally, where my previous day's FWA route was due to have ended, and it was irrelevant, but still good to know, that I wouldn't have struggled to find somewhere to camp up there.

About a kilometre and a half further on, I rounded the corner of a building and found four backpackers. They all had their backs to me, so I greeted them as strangers, only to find it was the same group as before, who had got ahead of me without passing me (different route ... omitting the tea shop - scandalous!).

By now I was around 12km from Aberfeldy and it was becoming apparent that I had misjudged my timing. I couldn't check into my hotel until 3pm and it was looking like I would arrive at 1.30.

So, I had first lunch on a rock alongside the track, then second lunch on a lovely shady picnic bench along the Birks of Aberfeldy. It was as I sat on that bench looking at the car park that I thought "I've been here before". Walking through said car park a while later confirmed it, but even a search of my blog hasn't told me if we spent a night there or just stopped by to have lunch.

It was only a ten minute stroll into town and I still arrived too early. My attempts to buy an ice cream failed (Coop looked like a plague of locusts had been through -they are still getting back to normal after their cyber attack) and the wares of the ice cream shop contained soya (which is currently triggering migraines, so I'm avoiding it).

Finally 3pm ticked around and to the hotel I went. I was given a room on the second floor (of two) and am pleased to say that this time I had no complaints. My room was big, the bathroom was huge, and it was all modern, comfortable and well maintained. And it cost slightly less than the disappointing B&B of two nights ago. 

Mick had posted my second resupply parcel, just containing a couple of breakfasts and evening meals to the hotel, so once I'd unpacked it, I refilled the box with my Paramo jacket, Buffalo Mitts and a couple of other bits and pieces that I just don't need to be carrying in this weather. I bought postage online, then went and dropped the parcel at the Post Office (later realising there were even more things I could have sent on ahead -not of any significant weight, but I have accidentally got two pen knives with me, for example).

Buying the rest of my resupply at the Coop, once I'd hand washed some clothes, I had a leisurely rest of the day.